Rare lions killed in Indian game reserve

An Asiatic Lion yawns at the New Delhi zoo. Indias Gir National Park and Lion Sanctuary in Gujarat is the only remaining habitat and last refuge for the endangered creatures. Photograph: B Mathur/Reuters

Poachers trapped and skinned three highly endangered Asiatic lions in their last remaining refuge in western India, officials said today.

The skins and bloody innards of two lionesses and a female cub were found near a road running through Gir National Park, in Gujarat, last Saturday, raising fears for the future of the rare animals.

The claws and bones had been removed and officials said it was possible that poachers had begun to target the big cats after exhausting opportunities to trap the much larger tiger population in India.

The bones, teeth, claws and skins of tigers are highly prized in Chinese medicine. Experts say that the skeleton of a lion could easily be passed off as a tiger's.

Bharat Pathak, the chief conservation officer at Gir, said he could not remember the last time lions had been poached. "Not officially in my memory," he said.

Mr Pathak said that there were between 350 and 370 lions in the park, according to the last census three years ago. The population is all that remains of the Asiatic lions that once roamed from the Bosphorus to the Bay of Bengal.

"We suspect a (poaching) gang involvement," said Mr Pathak.

"The traps that we found are similar in nature to those used by poachers in [the neighbouring state of] Madhya Pradesh. (The bones) could have been taken for Chinese medicine which is why the skins were left behind."

Lions have been killed in the Gir sanctuary before, which covers 1,400 square km. But the deaths were put down to local villagers, angry at forays by the big cats into fields in search of cattle.

"Lions need meat, they cannot live on fresh air," said Ravi Chellam, of the Ashoka Trust for research in ecology and the environment.

"In Gir, we have reached the limits of the park. If you wanted 700 lions you need more space but there simply is not any. So poaching may be a threat but so is disease. They are running out of habitat."